To Advertise or Not Advertise - Part 2

Here's our third tip for successful advertising:


3. Structure your advert to get results

There is a well-proven structure to use in advertising:

ATTENTION – the most important part of your advert is the headline. If it’s in print it will be the first thing the reader sees (think about an email subject line). If it’s on the radio it’s the first thing people hear. If it’s TV it’s the first thing they see AND hear. The headline should be about your readers, not you and there are no rules, except what works.

INTEREST – Once you’ve got their attention you need to create an interest in what you are offering. This needs to be simple and it needs to be unique in some way to make the biggest impact. Try to include some kind of evidence or proof as an endorsement.

WANT – Turn the interest into a want or desire, by clearing stating the benefits to the individual of what you are offering. If you’re not sure you’ve communicated them as well as you could, ask someone unconnected to your business to read the advert and tell you what they understand the benefits to be.

ACTION – Include a call to action, whether it’s linking to a webpage, sending an email, calling with an enquiry, buying online. Make sure you have a system in place where you can track responses so you know if the advertising campaign is working. If you find an advertising message that generates good responses, do more and go bigger. If it isn’t working, stop it and try something different. Test and measure all your advertising on a small scale first.

The final tips will be posted in a few days.